August 28th, 2018

"Umberto Pignatelli's Beasts & Barbarians is a sword-and-sorcery fantasy campaign setting from the Polish company GRAmel Publishing for Savage Worlds rules from Pinnacle Entertainment. GRAmel is the Polish Savage Worlds licensee, and GRAmel's Piotr Korys has served as Pinnacle's Savage Worlds line editor.

Beasts & Barbarians channels the vintage spirit of Robert E. Howard, Michael Moorcock, and Fritz Leiber for Conanesque adventures of iron-thewed heroism, sanity-twisting sorcery, and base treachery. Cursed by the gods, the Keronian sorcerer-priests lost their empire 2,500 years ago in the cataclysmic fall of the Dread Star. Amid its scattered ruins, power-hungry despots rule the Dread Sea Dominions, a realm of colorful cities, dark mysticism, dramatic turns, and larger-than-life heroism -- of barbarians, Amazons, alchemists, monks, and thieves. Travel the Iron Empire from barbarous Northelm to the theocratic City of Clouds, and meet (and battle) foes from the mercenaries and greedy merchants of Jalizar to the fallen sorcerers and slavers of Tricarnia. Venture into ancient ruins to battle pre-human beastmen -- fight in the sun-scorched arenas of Faberterra to appease the crowds of the decadent Iron Empire -- and stop mad sorcerers from invoking demons in temples older than humankind.

Funded last year in a successful Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign, Beasts & BarbariansSteel Edition (the game's second) adds lots of material, furthers the setting's timeline, and makes useful corrections in tone. B&B's Golden (first) Edition (2011), while faithfully capturing the spirit of Robert E. Howard's pulp fiction, also followed Howard's practice of characterizing some races in stereotyped ways. "We didn't want to offend anybody," Piotr Korys explained on the RPG.net forum. "Cultural differences (I'm from Poland, Umberto is from Italy) could be the reason and explanation, but our game was proofread and edited by US-born English native speakers -- and they left [the characterizations] there. We have changed a lot of things, which were put there not because we are racist (both Umberto and me hate white supremacy -- or every supremacy -- movement), but because they were in pulp games." The Steel Edition (2017) removes the problematic characterizations.

This bargain-priced offer presents the complete Beasts & Barbarians Steel Edition (both Player's Guide and Game Master's Guide) and lots of character supplements, location sourcebooks, adventures, and play aids -- everything you need to tread the jeweled thrones of the Dread Sea Dominions under your sandaled feet.

We provide each ebook complete in .PDF (Portable Document Format). Like all Bundle of Holding titles, these books have NO DRM (Digital Restrictions Management), and our customers are entitled to move them freely among all their ereaders.

The total retail value of the titles in this offer at launch is US$138. Customers who pay just US$12.95 get all seven titles in our Starter Collection (retail value $68) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks, including the full-color Beasts & Barbarians Steel Edition Player's Guide, Game Master Guide, and the Heroes of the Dominions collection of pregenerated player characters); the bestiary Beasts of the Dominions; the introductory adventure Soul in the Water; the Steel Edition Figure Flats print-and-fold character standups; and the Game Master Screen. (We also include the free Savage Worlds Test Drive introductory rules.)

Those who pay more than the threshold (average) price, which is set at $24.95 to start, also get our entire Bonus Collection with seven more titles worth an additional $70, including three location sourcebooks (Dark Places of the Dominions, Jalizar - City of Thieves, and Tricarnia - Land of Princes and Demons); three character supplements (Gladiators of the Dominions, Pirates of the Dominions, and Tattered Banners - Bandit Lords and Mercenary Captains); and the full-length Steel Edition adventure Enyia's Song."

At least one additional title will be added after launch: "When a title is added after launch, ALL customers who previously purchased the bundle automatically receive the newly added title, REGARDLESS of whether or not they paid more than average. This is their reward for buying early."

My feeling on this one is that it isn't something I personally want; there are already a lot of fantasy campaigns out there and I don't feel any pressing need for another. But if you like Savage Worlds and want something like this it's probably going to be of interest. As usual YMMV.Also posted at https://ffutures.dreamwidth.org/2131645.html, where there are comments. Please comment here or there using OpenID.